On top of that, Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, is seeking to overturn a new fire protection fee for rural homeowners. That would mean another $150 million hole.

Democrats, of course, find these complaints enormously ironic.

Republican resistance to temporary taxes, they say, left cuts and fees as the only alternative.

"The rule should be you can't complain about budget cuts unless you have alternatives and votes to implement it," Nathan Barankin, communications director for Sen. President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, tweeted today.

School funding should be higher, said Chris Woods, budget director Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles. "But without Republican votes to extend tax rates, school funding could not be increased."

Lawmakers return to the Capitol next week to wrap up their session, but wrapping up the budget bickering?